Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Talking of spending a billion of one's own, that leads me almost to my next point. The "something borrowed" element is probably the worst aspect of the budget. I wish to remind the House of what I said here three weeks ago. I said that "something borrowed" is the money we are spending to buy carbon credits and allowances. It is disgraceful.

Whereas I welcome the grants for solar panels and wood-pellet stoves, I still do not understand why there is nothing in the budget for wind-powered generators. That was the worst aspect of the budget. At least the Minister of State conceded the points which the Government side of the House would not concede three weeks ago, shortly before the Stern report, on how badly Ireland was doing in fulfilling its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. I welcome the Minister of State's acknowledgement in this regard but we need to take urgent action on it.

As regards spending other people's money, that is the whole point. Two weeks ago, Deputy Bruton asked a question, and though I did not hear him pose it again today, I did not hear his entire speech. We were overtaxed, whether by income or other taxes, so there should not be that element of surplus. Somebody is regularly calling it wrong. For the past three or four years in a row, the budget surplus has been way ahead of ministerial predictions. I know the answer to this point is that Ireland has a thriving economy, but I would like the Minister of State to answer this point. Our economic growth has been closely in line with the Department of Finance's predictions. The Department is always brilliant and its officials are the best commentators in giving a prognosis on economic growth for the following year. They got the fundamental things right and were not far off on inflation. They were completely wrong in terms of the surplus, but I think that is deliberate. There was a well-known shopkeeper in Dingle, who was related to me, I have to say.